CAHILL: WE WERE IN CONTROL

Gary Cahill admitted we were shocked by Basel at Stamford Bridge on Wednesday night, but accepted we only had ourselves to blame after failing to raise our game in the second half.

A drab first half had ended with Oscar putting us a goal ahead, but further chances went begging after the break before Mohamed Salah and then Marco Streller struck to give the Swiss side an away victory.

‘It’s a big shock really,’ Cahill said afterwards. ‘We gave them a bit too much room all over the pitch but first half, we looked like we were in control of the game. In the second half we didn’t quite step it up that level and we paid the price for it.

‘We played against them twice last year and they’re a very good side. The onus was on us to step it up and we didn’t quite do that. At this sort of level we get punished and we’re obviously disappointed. We were in control at 1-0 up, we knew we could go up a level. I’m repeating myself but we didn’t do that and that’s what cost us the game.

‘In the second half we were quite disappointing, gave them a lot of time on the ball and had to defend quite a lot on the counter-attack.’

The 27-year-old also acknowledged we would need to study the two goals conceded to see where we went wrong, and to get back on track before we host Fulham on Saturday.

‘You can always do better, you can always analyse goals and have a look, definitely. The back four, goalkeepers, individuals. We’ll have a look at that.

‘It’s not a disaster but it’s not ideal. A club like this wants to win the majority of games it plays. That’s the expectation. It’s a blow but it’s not the be all and end all.

‘We need to win our next game now, as simple as that. The manager will stress that. We’ve got the squad to do it, we need to go on now and get back to winning ways on Saturday.’